We often have more in common than we think — a reality shown through Papaw’s Kookies & Kream, which draws ice cream enthusiasts from down the street and across the globe to the Strafford sweet stop thanks to its spot on Route 66.

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

Denis George and his wife, Clydie, own Papaw’s Kookies & Kream, a shop along Route 66 in Strafford.

“Papaw” is Denis George, who was in the shop when I stopped by shortly after opening time last week. The father of three, grandfather of seven, great-grandfather of seven more and figurative community “Papaw” owns the shop with his wife, Clydie.  

It’s a cute stop, with the old-time juke-box, pinball machine and metal stool decor you’d expect in an old-fashioned ice cream shop – one of a dwindling number around today, Denis tells me. And that allows them a lot of new connections in a community where they’ve lived for decades. 

“We get a lot of people who come from the school — teachers, faculty, you name it, students. Mom and Dad may be working, so Grandma or Grandpa picks them up and takes them here for ice cream. That’s been a big part of our business.

“We enjoy having the kids in.”

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

Vanilla is just one of more than 35 flavors of ice cream and sherbet Papaw’s offers.

Being an ice cream man wasn’t Denis’ first or even second career. But at the urging of their daughter, and blessed with good health, the Georges decided to open the shop.

Aside from an unexpected snafu when the building next door burned down – the day after Papaw’s opened — the shop has been selling scoops of more than 35 flavors of ice cream and sherbet ever since it opened in 2018.

But that’s not all. 

There are milkshakes, sundaes, banana splits, and malts – the latter option being one Denis says isn’t as common as it once was. 

“They'll make shakes, but not too many (ice cream stores) still make malts,” he says. “A lot of people still like the old malt flavor, and so we make malts and shakes both. 

“We try to come up with new ideas occasionally. Even if people come in and they ask, ‘Can you do this kind of thing?’ We’ll give it a try. We try to do anything.”  

There are homemade ice-cream sandwiches, made with chocolate chip cookies. Clydie makes all of their waffle cones, flavors which include chocolate and strawberry and others that are coated in candies. 

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

Two of Papaw’s homemade specialties are waffle cones and ice cream sandwiches. 

One of their specialties is Spaghetti Ice Cream, a concept that came to the shop via Europe.

As the Georges prepared to open the shop, one of their granddaughters was dating a young man from France who suggested that they should get Spaghetti Ice – “ice” in this context being what those in France call ice cream, Denis tells me – at the shop. 

“We're like, ‘We don't know what that is,’” Denis recalls. “So he told us a little bit about it.”

It’s a frozen treat that looks like a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs — but that’s made from ice cream and sweet toppings.

“We found a piece of equipment that makes it,” Denis tells me. “You put your ice cream in a cylinder that you keep frozen – keep in the freezer – and then you press (ice cream) out, and it looks like spaghetti. We put that in a bowl, and then we top that with a cherry or a strawberry sauce – ‘spaghetti sauce’ – put a chocolate ball on top of that, and then some grated almond bark for the Parmesan cheese. That's the kids’ favorite – they like it.” 

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

Spaghetti Ice Cream is one of Papaw’s specialties.

Another kid who came in the shop while I was there instead chose a cone, topped with sprinkles and a big scoop of ice cream, and settled into a booth. (She regularly asks to come by, her dad says.) 

There wasn’t a shop like this around when he was in school, the man says. But there were in the past, so others see the shop as reminiscent of long-gone memories of soda fountains and ice cream parlors from days gone by. 

“That's what we hoped to achieve when we opened the store,” Denis says. “We kind of wanted an old-fashioned, ‘50s, ‘60s ice cream parlor that my wife and I both remember we enjoyed.”

He says nostalgia is something older people like about the shop, too.

“They just say, ‘Oh, this is so neat. It reminds me of the old ice cream shop or the soda fountain.’”

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

Papaw’s Kookies & Kream offers the vibe of an old-time soda fountain.

The Georges’ collective story is tied to the Ozarks, too. The couple spent most of their growing-up years in Springfield – both graduating from Hillcrest High School on the city’s north side – before Denis went to school to become an commercial artist. 

Things didn’t work out quite as he originally expected, but adjacent work – in printing and food service endeavors – took the family to Colorado and back, where they settled in the Strafford area about 40 years ago and have been there ever since. 

Strafford is unique in the Route 66 world (which also offers burgers and homemade diner fare at Joe’s Route 66 Diner). The Greene County community is said to be one of few towns that has two main streets: One that faces in, and another that fronts the Mother Road. 

The latter is where Papaw’s sits: In a sense, its windows face the world, drawing visitors who are passing through on their nearly 2,500-mile-long trek across the country.

PaPaw's Kookies & Kreme

Papaw’s fronts Route 66, and is a stop for travelers along the Mother Road.

Denis says that many foreign visitors are more familiar with the route than Americans are, noting that some of them ride bikes, both powered by fuel or feet. One of their most recent larger groups in that category was from Germany.

“They had their motorcycles shipped to the states, and they were motorcycling Route 66 from west to east,” he says. “They stopped in here one day during the summer, and there were seven of them, I believe there were. All of them but one couldn’t speak English. We managed to get through that with hand gestures. ‘I want this, or I want to try that.’ 

“They sat in here a good hour, just had fun chit-chatting and talking about their tour and playing the jukebox and things like that.” 

But the shop is about more than tourism: It’s about having an experience close to home, one that serves as a connection point for families and friends in the community. 

“I've known too many people that have retired … and they end up sitting around, and in six months to a year, they pass away,” he says. “Because we've got good health, we just decided, ‘Well, we're just gonna keep it as long as we can.’ That was a big inspiration in keeping us wanting to stay active and in business. And we enjoy meeting people.”

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